IGFA

Articles about IGFA

After significant objection from the recreational fishing and boating community, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has taken steps to correct a key fisheries economics report that misleadingly indicated that the domestic commercial fishing industry in the United States was significantly larger than the recreational fishing industry. When imported seafood, which is not regulated or managed by NMFS, is removed from the equation, the corrected data show that the recreational fishing industry is actually $7.9 billion dollars larger than the commercial fishing industry. Furthermore, the corrected data show that the domestic commercial fishing industry actually decreased by $2.3 billion in 2012.

New law clears the way for greater worldwide billfish conservation measures

Posted on October 10, 2012

A remarkable effort to raise protections for billfish was rewarded last week when the Billfish Conservation Act was signed into law after an extended campaign by a coalition of marine conservation groups. The Act bans the importation of all billfish caught by foreign fleets into the continental United States and, perhaps most importantly, sets an example for other countries to pursue similar conservation efforts once thought impossible.